THE EXPLORER.

Otago Witness, Issue 1971, 29 August 1889, Page 32

THE EXPLORER.

No. 2.— ON THE TIN TACK. By E. M. M.

The gloom was intense ; the bush was dark and soaking ; nothing stirred save the omnipresent sandfly, and everything was deathly still except the wash of the tide and now and then the cry of a distant gull. That night the mosquitoes came again. At 12.45 a.m. we heard a drum-like sound, and knew it was a skirmisher come to spy the land. It sat on Jack's nose, and was collecting facts for a report on commissariat when I led out with my left. Jack didn't display the gratitude I had expected, bat held his nose carefully with both hands. Soon the main detachment arrived, and held a wake. Next morning my bump of locality was developed. I had a relief map of Paterscn district on my forehead so accurate that w,e would lay the compass on it to take bearings when we had lost our way !

We washed creeks and sunk shafts, and found grand indications of mica and dead branches. Gold is in " pockets." Sinking wasn't easy in the bush. First we had to cut branches to get standing room, and there was certain to"be some unpretentious lawyer branch overlooked. Two feet down the water would ooze in, and the roots form an intricate tracery charming to an artist, but rather out of place in a " shaft.*' When I was fixed in the mud the sandflies would commence their innocent gambols, the wekas would " sit round " and sing, the kakas overhead would shriek with all the power of their leather -coated lungs, the lawyer branch would catch my neck and refuse to let go, and then as a grand finale an undermined fern tree would fall on me, rasp my face, smother me in its loathsome fronds, and then hold me down till it had poured its life collection of dust and sticks down my back I Shooting was a relief. Sometimes I would take the gun, and prevail on Jack to prospect. In this way we got many a kaka. The rain started. After a week it got monotonous. We sat and listened to the wekas warbling their plaintive lays in the scrub, and wondered why Nature made them so tough and how long the Liebig would last. When in this frame of mind we fouqd a piece of an old Witness, and it was touching to see with what interest we discussed an item re " Ruching relieved with cardinal chenille." Another piece with Cockle's pills we kept for Sunday. Another week passed, but the rain got weaker and weaker ; it seemed to be losing heait. One day it stopped to rest — " to recuperate," as the islanders say — so we made up our swags and set out for Half -moon Bay.

We had been told that there was a track from the mill, distance 12 miles. We expected to be there at 2 o'clock; it seemed just over the road. Up the tram we went, slipping off the rails, crashing through the rotten sleepers, jumping chasms and creeks. At the first junction we propped our swags against trees, and rested. Half-moon must be only 10 miles off, we thought, and it was no use getting there too soon. This was in the morning. The tram stopped at a second mill, but gave us a choice of seven other lines. The first landed us in a pine stump,' the second in a swamp, the third in a lawyer bush, and the others in profanity — landed Jack, I mean. No more trams to explore, we felt relieved, and swung the billy on the strength of it. After dinner we took bearings, and struck up hills and down gullies in the direction of Half-moon. Through the glimmering branches of the pines we caught a glimpse of the far away sea. The sky and water were grey, the breakers tossed and flashed, and one sail gleamed against a distant island, seeming to tell that we were not alone, and sending a handshake over the reach.

We slid down a precipice and stuck in the fern at the foot. It was 4ft deep, mouldy, and dark, but there was a creek beneath to wash our boots. A pine that lay theie offered a comparatively solid footing, and as we stood knee-deep in decayed vegetation Jack waved his shovel, and was shouting " I see " when he sank through pine and all, the swag keeping him above the surface while he kicked. He didn't finish the sentence, but launched out into extraneous matter. When I had hauled him out he pointed out a tram about 300 yds away. He seemed a very Tasman as he stood on our " dish," which he used as a snow-shoe, inquiring if the fern was nearly out of his eyes. In about an hour the line was reached, and as all seemed plain sailing we camped. This was the evening of the first day. At dusk Jack went out with the last cigar and the billy, to knock over something for breakfast, and as he stood on the tram wondering if I had the bed ready a belated bird sat on his "tammy," held his bill pensively over the cigar, and settled to roost \ Angry at being mistaken for a stump, Jack caught it by the tail, telling it it would never sing again, when, with one dig at; his hand and a shriek like that of a lost soul, it flapped into the night. The cry seemed familiar to me, but the memory recalled was a football match in which our side had potted without giving due notice, and the other side had wanted to know the reason why ; or, as Watt has it :

'Twas the voice of the barracker, I heard him complain — " That ball, it was dead. Fathead, scrum it again I "

What wonder that I had nightmare ? At 1.15 the mosquitoes arrived. They had tracked us. We knew them to be our old acquaintances by the broken wing of their general. It gave him a new lease of life, for you can sometimes reckon where an ordinary mosquito will land, but him never I We had a reunion. They seemed a tie to past memories, so we entertained them royally while they danced a haka in their delirious joy. At ZA§ Jack sneaked out of bed, spread out some newspapers, and then uncorked a bottle of corn solvent. This done, he sniggered feebly and crept back to bed. For hours we heard the patter as they succumbed — martyrs to their unholy hankering after their pound of flesh! At 5.15 Jack rose once more and tied up the bundle with string, saying they would make first-rate bait for the wekas.

The following morning we started fall of hope : only eight miles — a. mere mosquito

bite I After following the tram for an hour the scenery seemed to grow familiar, especially as my initials adorned a pine in front. This was too much. We put down our swags and stared at it. A heel-plate that Jack had lost when climbing after a kaka that said " Yah 1 " at him lay before us. We had struck the first line at the nearest junction to the mill settlement I In other words, we were within two miles of our first camp. Out opinions as to whose fault it was not trying that side line at first were totally different, and the fact of its being the only one in the district that we had not explored was no comfort. >'A weka came up to see what the matter was — fatal curiosity; but it died game. Distance -now 10 miles., We retraced our steps to our last camp, and followed the tram past it till it ended at a finger-post pointing up a hill and into a swamp. It seemed most likely that the track would go through the swamp, being Stewart's Island ; so we threw in a stick to see if it would bear, but as it sank at once we decided to try the hill first. Up the hill a track was found, and we followed it that we might have nothing to reproach ourselves with. It was a broad track, but it ended in a pine stump.

We sat down to consider the situation. Jack said we weren't lost, for Half-moon was " Over there 1 " I asked what distance he made it. He replied gloomily, "It must be nearly 12 miles again I " I proposed that I should watch the swags, and keep whistling so he might radiate round me as a centre, and find some place where a sheep could crawl through. He said he would find some opening if there was only room for a sandfly, and sallied forth with a look of determination in his eye and the cleaver in his hand. So I whistkd " The heart bowed down " to cheer him, and he radiated, making tracks that will puzzle any future explorer who may spend his holidays walking from the Nor'-west Arm to Half-moon Bay. By and bye a shout came faintly through the scrub — " I've got it ! " " Likely," I thought. Eighteen inches mud," came the distant refrain. Then hope revived, and I whistled till he found me. We followed his " blazing " till we struck it. It was the track: we didn't care to say so till we were sure, but as it -first struck for Anglem, then Kaipippi, and then Pegasus, the conviction grew on us that we were right at last. It was well cut, and had room for four to walk abreast. Here and there was silent testimony that long before us man had been on thescene, mementoes of civilisation in the form o£ rusty salmon tins.

In the evening we reached the saw mill in operation ; distance two miles. The following day we found a botanist, an expert apparently, talking " fern " at " Slabby," who was evidently profoundly impressed by his umbrella and portfolio. He tried me with " Pulcherrimums " (the plural is his), but while I was recovering he was stumped by Jack with a rare species—" Pre-antedilu-Tiastic-crustacea." After that the botanist talked English. As the trolly was about to start for the bay we waited for it, and went round suggesting various improvements. While I was engaged "sizing" the horsepower of the engine, " Slabby " came up. I thought he had come to show me the notice, " Strangers are requested not to touch any logs," but I was wrong; he had come to inquire if "he," pointing over his shoulder, " was off his ohnmp ? " It was evident that Jack was enjoying himself 1 On going to warn him I found him springing that old, old query : "If a hen and a-half lays an egg and a-half in a day and a-half, how many eggs will six hens lay in seven days ? " When we left the hands were feverishly figuring on logs and rails in a state bordering on lunacy. Only two miles to go. Surely we might arrive that dayl We did— a triumph of perseverance. ' The bush is thick at first, but near the bay it gets clearer and clearer until the mill settlement is reached. The scene here was characteristic. At every door stood a woman en dishabille. One had a baby in her arms ; others had two apiece. The gateposts were utilised by a shawl slung hammock wise between them, with a baby or twins somewhere in the folds. It is thought a neighbourly act to pick up and slap any who may havefallen out. One woman dressed in a faded silk was washing dishes. She was evidently a superior woman. A hundred yards farther on the~ trolly stopped, and the driver [ informed us that the township lay behind the stable. In going round we found that such was the case. To our surprise we found that we had broken the record, no one before doing the distance in less than six days.